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I think it's better to work by the hour than the line.

Posted By: S/M on 2009-04-14
In Reply to: stay home or go in house.... - jaerae

By-the-line SOUNDS good, but there's no control over what accounts you'll get, or how accurate the line-counting software they have is, etc. You may start out on an easy account, but as you pick up speed on it and start to make money, they'll switch you to a harder one. And when you pick up speed on that one, you'll get another harder one. And so on and so on. Benefits probably won't be as good at home, either. The only thing that's better about home is not having to deal face-to-face with management. But at least you have the security of knowing your paycheck is going to be the same each time, and won't dwindle down to less-than-nothing if you have a bad day, or a bunch of bad dictators, or no work. And you mentioned a RAISE. That's something most of at-home people will never see in our careers with any company. The only way we seem to be able increase the cpl is if we change companies. But then you still end up on that treadmill of being given work that you may do well, but you can't make money doing. They get ya coming and going.


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$25.00 per hour is more like it. I work now at per report and 14.5 cents per line
and average $30-42.00 per hour
I appreciate your responses. I had an option of line vs hour ($14/hour) but if line pays more...nm
nm
Lets hope it is not geared line count per hour the way we run out of work and are in so many
other accounts all the time. Boy that would be bad.
What is the average line/hour for a 65 character line with spaces? NM
.
Pay by hour or line
AAMT is NEVER there to represent us. They are a giant clubhouse of aging starlets who do nothing but travel around on our dime. They are hardly the epitome of a professional organization, are they?

BTDT
sorry...$28 per hour at 8 cents per line
nm
Per line - could never make much per hour.
I do 350-400 lph at 12 cpl - no one will pay me what I make by the hour! Per line is the way to go, plus keep your flexibility.
Work for 1 hour, then count your lines of the completed work - sm
either check you total characters in word (with spaces) then total them all up and divide by 65, and you get your total lines per hour. 10,000/65 is 153 lines. Or if you have a line counting program us that to figure you count, either way will work quite well. Maybe do it a few times and then figure an average over 3 hours or something like that, it will vary with the ease/difficulty of the work you are doing.
$3.40 in eastern NC. I just sat in line for an hour to get gas, and they had a $35 limit. nm

Does anyone know if Indian MTs are paid by the line or by the hour? sm
That's something I have been curious about.  I know the MTSOs charge by the line, but was wondering how they pay the MTs.  I recall various articles about all the benefits they had, free medical, etc., even food.
Even if you only made 6 cents a line, that's 12.00 an hour at 200 lph.
c
Voice recognitioin, Avg pay per line or per hour. TIA. sm...
I have an opportunity to work on this platform and wondered what is fair and equitable.  Thanks so much.
Are you paid by the line, word, hour?

If you're paid by the hour, and not by the line, YES.
.
Especially when the company did not have the forethought to have line or hour quotas

Everybody deserves to have a life.


Even the supervisor. 


If you are paid by the line and make over $25 an hour, then I hate to say it

but I am wondering if you are doing full QA.  By the line is NOT fair pay for QA.  I know I mentor new MTs on a very difficult account and there is no way you could earn a decent wage on any amount of line pay, no way!


Don't go telling someone they could do better if they are paid by the line.  Quality specialists MUST have ethics in their work.  You can do a decent amount of reports a day and give feedback and mentoring, but you certainly would not be earning $25 an hour on line pay that I have seen....just no way!  The most I have seen QA paid is 7 cents a line and still those women do not average that amount. 


Now, I don't know what you do or if you listen 100%, but most QA positions I have had have had megablanks, 100% listen as well as 100% feedback and you just cannot produce that much doing your job in a proper manner.


I usually average $25/hour paid by line so most places...

make $20 an hour plus 4 cents gross line
nm
I'm paid by the hour, but by page or line are both common.
I work on-site, which is why I'm hourly. I also think working on-site with the actual paperwork in front of you makes for the best quality. Otherwise there would be sooooo many tech errors or dictator mis-speaks that I wouldn't be able to research from home that it would drive me crazy. But lots of MTs do it, of course.
No - not worth 12 bucks an hour when you can make triple that by the line, sm
but that all depends on what company and VR platform you are talking about.
Line rate isn't the only factor -- your lines/hour average is key, too.
Even at 7 cpl, keeping about 275 lines/hour average keeps you at $19.25 an hour and that is $40,000 a year.

It is a myriad of factors involved. You have to have the knowledge, be decisive, self-sufficient and very focused. Then, you need to negotiate as high a base rate as you can and look toward the incentive plan to increase your paycheck.

With our incentive, it was not worth it if I couldn't hit high lines in a day. So, I changed my schedule to hit those lines.

I am tired after my work days but having the 4 days a week off and a good income makes it worth it for me. It allows me to spend my days off doing things I want to.

not a liar, not an old person, I make waaaaay over $20/hour, probably double (CA, .15-.17 line) sm

I have two accounts of my own and do vacation coverage for a few other MTs as well as occassional work for a lawyer and a psychologist.  I charge .15 for one clinic and .17 for the other clinic... clinic #2 is a husband/wife neurologist team, and the husband was a major A&& at first... with a very strong accent and every possible bad dictator habit you can imagine.  I told wife I would transcribe for her, but not for him, I had plenty of business.  She said charge whatever you want, have whatever turnaround time you want, just please don't leave.  At the time they were at .12... so I upped them to .17.  That was 5 years ago and now after having gotten to know him and his *quirks* I adore them both.  I am an IC, but they give me very large gift cards for Christmas, kind of in lieu of a bonus, I guess. 


Clinic #2... just this week took on another physician and I told them point blank it was too much for me to provide quick service and they may want to consider a service.  They said no way, we changed the turnaround time to one week with stats as needed.  I even asked them if they considered voice recognition and the office manager laughed and laughed. 


I am just now putting both clinics on digital, and after the initial cost, this will increase my estimated hourly wage as it will take away my delivery time and cost, and my paper and ink printing cost and time.  Though I still plan to visit each office on a regular basis for customer service and because I know my customer service is what got me here in the first place.


For the *occasional* work, the lawyer and pysch I charge $50/transcription hour. 


I know you will all doubt me.  But I work extremely hard, have put in my time with my education - not just learning MT but learning the ropes of running a business and how to do everything smarter, faster, and in the most efficient and sensible way possible.  I also have another business I do in a totally different field!  I am very blessed.  Well, I also know the fields I have chosen were perfect for me, and also I've had good luck.  You know what I think though?  I think my sense of humor and just being as honest and open and observant as possible has made this possible. 


Would you do all that work for 12.50 an hour?
x
Off hour work shift
"posted by wouldn't have it any other way". Thank you so much for your post! I work a similar shift for similar reasons. I don't start until 8 p.m. most nights so like you my kids are in bed before I head off to work and I don't feel gulity taking time away from them. I do work one long day on Sunday to catch up, but I start at noon so we are all still able to attend church together and my husband usually plans a daddy fun day with them that afternoon. I WISH I had done this when my kids were even smaller as I breast fed and still worked off hours so I didn't have then in daycare, but I had to pump at work and my husband had to give them bottles when I was gone.

I agree it can be tiring, but you get in a routine, and honestly do you know any mom stay-at-home or out-of-the-house worker who isn't tired?

Being there 24x7 for your kids that is dedication! :)
Off hour work shift
I should probably add that while I am working I am dedicated 100% as my office is downstairs and I work with my door closed and locked. My husband is upstairs with the children and gets up with them if they get up before I am done with my shift. So, I don't feel guilty neglecting work either because I don't. :)
If MTs want to work 10+ hour days
...more power to them.  Not me - I'm gettin' tired of this.  They're lucky if they get 6 hours out of me.  I worked 10+ hours a day and weekends when I first started.  Now, I could care less.  I may not perform 1200+ lines a day, but I have excellent QA. 
I work 4 ten-hour shifts...

Sat thru Tues. My DH is on a rotating 12-hour 3 on/4 off shift and we have at least 2 days off together. I love it; I start at 4 am but I am done at 230 and have all day to do what I want and rarely run out of work.


Have a hospital I work for and they consistently change work types and do line counts. (sm)
Management just doesn't understand in order to crank out the work you need to be proficient by typing the same accounts. Go figure, they just don't get it ??
Usually work "live" on a Cphone, while connected. There are ways to record & work off line, bu
s
Even to start with, $14.00 an hour is lousy pay for ANY MT work...NM
?
Maybe all this hiring with no work has something to do with the proposed 1 hour TAT?
Wasn't that kind of TAT mentioned in a company email?
That was my point. There will never be any steady work for anyone with TAT at 1 hour
I'm certainly not going to be sitting at the computer 24/7 waiting for reports to trickle in. We are so stupid to be putting up with this. Why do we stay?
Why do you say $20/hr? I work for a national, and at 11 cpl, 300 lines per hour, sm

that's $33/hour.  I'm not driving a Lexus or anything, but I'm comfortable.  Generally speaking, find a mid-sized national, big enough to have enough work for you all of the time, yet small enough to care and realize that quality work deserves quality pay.


They are out there.  Good luck!


Hired to work 40 hour week, 9-5 and then...
Then your computer goes down or you have a doctor's appt or a responsibility taking you away from the keyboard. The other two MTs on your acct have to work like crazy to keep up with a 3 MT work load and they do so like champs. Then, back you come and grab work off your schedule. This means the two MTs who covered you while you were off are not going to be compensated for working strenuously but instead, end up sharing their shifts work with you.

This is soooo frustrating.
Nationals with 10- to 12-hour window to work 8 hrs?

I did a search in the archives, but the info I found was a little outdated. Thanks for any help you can provide.


6-hour day, weekend work by choice, sm
optional access to group health ins even if I have to pay total premium, a company that understands what "IC" really means, a company that refuses to offshore US transcription, pay by gross line, pay based on quality and experience and no less than 9 cpl, but most of all,
CLEAR DICTATION!!



I wouldn't work as an MT for a lousy $7.50 an hour OR
.
Can I ask where you work that pays editors per hour?
I have been editing for about 2 months now and have 7 years as a MT.  I am still working as a MT along with my new editor's position.  The company I am working for only pays by the line, so if you don't produce you get very little pay.
$18 an hour but I work inhouse in a hospital.
nm
No. I work four 10-hour days. I'm really fast, really
occasions, about every other month, I might do 8-10 hours overtime.

10K for 12 hour weekends, work privately

I have a 10-hour window to work 8 hours
and that works fine for me.
I don't make 0.08/line.. I work for no less than .13/line. nm
.
Even if they pass, how can they do the work? They will make pennies an hour and
zzzzzz
You cant have a 1 hour TAT and MTs have work. They are completely nuts. We are being used and abused
:
This is not possible. You'd have to average 300 lph and work a 12 hour day. This person is stre
x
What do you consider a fair per audio hour rate for MT work?

I am only accustomed to the per word rate in MT, but I know that the GT companies prefer the PAH rate.


I was wondering if any MT companies do use the PAH rate and what would be a fair price if there are indeed any companies using this method.


i think anywhere from 14 to 20 an hour depending on hours worked, kind of work, etc.
nm
I do radiology now, paid by the hour, work from home, can it get any easier than that?

The bottom line is doesnt matter what they pay if there is no work you make no money. Bottom line.
:
My point is, work a NORMAL EIGHT HOUR SHIFT..dont worry
It takes away from the quality and the turnaround time...